Virtual Nothing
by deanetr
Summary: "The mirror I held in my hand shattered into pixels, and I fall to my knees laughing. Nobody notices- they're all too busy freaking out. All that mattered was that I was going to fulfil my lifelong dream- to live- and die- in a videogame."
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Finally the clock ticks to 11:59AM. It's Wednesday today. A normal day, at least it would be under any other circumstances, but today is November 16th 2022 the much-anticipated official launch date of Sword Art Online. I faked a sickie just for this purpose, because Sword Art Online, or SAO among gamers, is the first Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Me? Of course I'm excited! I grew up playing Pokémon, a great RPG. My parents grew up on Pac-Man, but this, this is indescribable. It's a great moment for gaming history.

My finger taps the NerveGear impatiently, getting faster every second. My parents understand I am gaming, so they won't disturb me until dinner. Finally, as if I couldn't remember, every electronic device in my room announces to me that it is 12:00PM, the launch of SAO.

I take a deep breath, and plunge the NerveGear over my head. "Link Start!" I'm in a different world as colours plunge around me. I sign in and customize my avatar with shaking hands. Blonde, I think. I always wanted to be a blonde guy magnet.

Eventually my avatar is created, and I see Aincrad for the first time. Its beautiful. The sky is blue, the graphics are crisp, and I can see nobody lagging. So far so good. I walk around, taking in the sights around me. Everyone seems to have had good taste with creating their avatars- they all look as nice as the city.

"Excuse me?" someone taps my shoulder.

"Hello?" I ask turning around. It's a girl with down-to-the-floor light brown pigtails. She smiles cheerfully.

"Would you mind training with me?"

"Sure. My name's Shina." I smile back.

"My name's Silica."

OOOO

After a few hours spent levelling up to level 5, I realize with a start that I would have to leave my new friend Silica because my mom would be making dinner.

"Silica, I have to go. Sorry about leaving you." I scratch the back of my neck sheepishly.

"Its ok." She smiles. She seems to do that a lot. I wave my hand for the menu to materialize. Scrolling down, I realize that the logout button was missing. Must be a bug, I think to myself. I close the menu and reopen it. Nope, logout button still gone. My stomach drops.

"Everything ok?" Silica asks. I must have a weird expression on my face.

"The logout button's missing." I close my menu and look at her as she opens her menu.

"It's gone on mine too." Silica looks worried, about as worried as I feel. I shake my head, the feelings of doubt and worry going to the back of my mind. I open my menu for the third time in those few minutes and the button is still gone. My eyes widen and I bite my lip. It has to be a bug. Maybe there are just too many people logging off at once and the server can't handle it? But as I think these things a voice in the back of my mind tells me that if the have the data to house a game like this with no lag, they should have enough data for everyone to log out simultaneously.

I look at Silica to see her tapping away furiously at her menu. "What're you doing?" I ask.

"Sending a message to the Gamemasters." She replies, not looking up. Of course! I mentally face-palm. Why didn't I think of that? If anyone could fix a glitch or a bug, it would be the Gamemasters, the creators of this game. At soon as Silica finishes typing her message a bright blue light surrounds us. I hear Silica cry out in shock, and it takes all of my willpower not to do the same. I squeeze my eyes shut as the sense of solidness I had ebbs away as the blue light grows stronger.

When I feel better, I open my eyes. It appears that we, along with everyone else playing, have been forcefully teleported to the town centre. The once blue sky has is now smothered with red hexagons and words in a different language that looks like English. I try to translate them, but as I do so, the sky began bleeding from in between the many hexagons. I, and many other players, gasp in shock and horror.

Slowly, the mysterious blood forms the shape of a man wearing robes, but on closer investigation, I discover that underneath the robes is nothing.

"It's a Gamemaster!" I hear someone say. Almost immediately everyone begins talking.

"Attention Players!" says the Gamemaster. Everyone, including me, is silenced. "Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and as of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world. I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu." I sigh in relief. Kayaba Akihiko himself, the creator of SAO, has obviously come to personally apologize for the logout button disappearance.

He continues on. "This is not a defect in the game, I repeat, this is not a defect. It is a feature of Sword Art Online. You cannot logout of SAO yourselves, and no one outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear." Any high opinions I had of Kayaba were instantly shattered. I hear sobs, and glance at Silica. She isn't the one crying, but her eyes are like saucers.

"Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life. Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning, and attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever from both Aincrad and the real world." He paused and brought up large holograms of some reputable news sites around the world.

"As you can see, News Organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus you can assume the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal." He closes the tabs with one swift hand gesture.

"I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game, but I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone in the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost, and simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain. There is only one means of escape, to complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make it through the dungeon and defeat the floor boss, then you may advance to the next level. Defeat the boss on Floor 100 and you will clear the game.

"Finally, I have added a present from me in your item storage. Please see for yourselves." The entity of Kayaba melts away into the 'blood' once again, and nine thousand, seven hundred and eighty-seven menus are brought up. I check my item storage, as Kayaba told us all too. Could it be a useful sword?

What deformed hopes I had faded away when I saw that the mystery item was just a simple hand mirror. I copied everyone else and held it in my hand. For a split second, it showed my in-game avatar that I had created at 12:00PM today. Then it morphed into my disappointing real-life appearance. I am a skinny girl with bangs and long curls down to her waist. I have hair in a boring shade of brown, and eyes to match.

I look at Silica. Her appearance also changed drastically from her avatar, but the shocked expression is the same. She has light brown hair in pigtails, with reddish-brown eyes. She looks now about 11 or 12. But although her appearance has changed, her feelings haven't.

Before my eyes she begins freaking out. Hyperventilating, even. She screams and tries to run away, but is stopped by someone's newly large stomach. She is the one that triggers the full-on panic.

The mirror I held in my hand shattered into pixels, and I fall to my knees laughing. Nobody notices. They're all too busy freaking out. All that mattered was that I was going to fulfil my lifelong dream- to live- and die- in a videogame.

**A/N Thanks to Xakyrie's awesome constructive criticism review, the next 3 chapters have been fixed. **

**Madoka Magica wasn't nominated for an Oscar :(**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It's been two weeks since we were all trapped in this death game called SAO, and at least a thousand innocent people have died.

I have been training hard, partly because I'm not going to join the ranks of the dead just yet, but also because I want to protect Silica. She's too freaked out to be training with me at the moment. I think she's at least two years younger then me, so it's understandable why she's frightened. Heck, I am too, but for Silica's sake I have to be mature about this. I don't know why, I just have this urge to take care of her.

I'm already level 8, and most of my equipment has been upgraded. I've decided to go with a basic one-handed sword accompanied by a small and light shield. Its what I feel will be best for me.

The quest for finding the first boss room has been unsuccessful so far. Everyone is in a panic-induced frenzy, and the Town of Beginnings is packed. Some people are questioning if this game is even beatable. I'm not sure what I believe.

Silica and I are sitting on a bench just outside the inn where we have currently spent every night.

"Hey Silica," I begin slowly so as not to put any pressure on her. "Can we move to the next village? This inn is one of the more expensive ones, and we're only in here because everywhere else is full." She looks at me with a terrified expression, and I feel guilty for having to do this to her. "Anyway, my point is that this in is too expensive for us to keep staying in every night. It's taking all of my Col from monster farming that is supposed to be used to buy equipment.

"W-Where should we go?" I can tell she's trying to be brave, but her façade quickly wears thin.

"I reckon by the river. Any other paths will be as crammed as Tokyo during rush-hour." Mentally I cringe at the thought that I might never see Tokyo, or anywhere else in the real world for that matter, again.

I close my menu and stand up, feeling the pixels that have become my body stretch and move. Silica follows suit, and we stock up on items, and set off.

**OOOO**

I see the giant dog before Silica does. "Silica! Watch out!" I yell. But she doesn't react in time. It hits her with a powerful forepaw, and she is launched onto the ground a couple of metres away. Her HP is dangerously in the red. As much as I want to, I can't help her yet, as the monster is targeting me now.

It's running towards me on all four legs. For a split-second I am frozen in fear. Is today the day I am going to die? "No." I chastise myself firmly under my breath. "I am going to defeat this monster."

I sprint around to behind the huge grey beast where it can't hit me. As if by it's own accord, my sword begins to light up as I perform the one-handed Sword Skill known as Sonic Leap. I glance at the dog's HP bar. I barely dented it. All of my hopes are lost, and I lower my shield and let myself be hit. Someone screams, but I've got to die sometime, right?

I shut my eyes, trying to drown out the noise, and it only seems like seconds before someone is shaking me and force-feeding me liquid. Can't they just let me sleep? I think agitatedly. I open one eye to see who is irritating me. It's Silica. She looks worried. Why is she worried? Then I remember what happened. I was knocked out by a massive dog monster, and probably escaped my HP completely depleting by the skin of my teeth.

"Oh good. You're awake." Silica is relieved.

"What happened?" I have regained most of my senses; thanks to the Potion she gave me.

"We were attacked by a dog monster, and you tried to attack it while I was healing. But then it hit you, and I think I screamed. "

I sit up. "C'mon Silica. We need to go. It'll be night soon, and we've already lost a lot of time." One look at Silica tells me she's thinking otherwise.

"Uh, actually I was thinking that maybe I shouldn't go with you." All my instincts are screaming objections, but I know I can't control her.

I stand up. "Silica, if you were scared to go, you should have just told me." I smile at her. "I hope we meet again sometime."

"Wait!" We both turn to look at five sweaty teenage boys. "Don't we get appreciation? We did defeat Cerberus." That must have been the huge dog thing. But didn't Cerberus have more than one head? Never mind.

"Sure. What do you want?" I open my menu, preparing to pay them.

"Silica." We both sputtered in shock and I was secretly glad neither of us had any potion left in our mouths.

"What?" we both exclaim. The one who has been talking steps forward.

"We are the Silica Fan Club Guild, or SFCG. We want our prize."

"Walk her to the inn where she stays. You will pay her three hundred Col for the night at the inn, and if any of you are indecent, me personally and my Beta tester friends will be on your case like fire on oil." I unsheathe my sword to prove a point. Silica looks at me. I can't tell what she's thinking, but I personally am laughing my head off internally.

"Heavens No! we'd never do anything to our Angel! She's an Idol! We would protect her with our lives!" Are these guys for real?

"Then give me the last attack bonus."

"Why? It's ours."

"I got the empty bottle she just used!"

They are practically falling over themselves to send it to me. Its called Shadow Sword. "Thank you." I leave.

**A/N Gun Gale Online anime is coming out this year! Sinon looks epic.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A month has passed since the release of SAO. I don't know why I still keep track any more. Maybe its because its been a month since my dreams came true. Or were shattered. I'm not sure what I think.

A third of the people who began SAO have died, and we still haven't found the boss' dungeon, let alone defeat it. There have been search parties going out almost every day now. Its like we're all getting desperate. Which we are.

Kayaba Akihiko, when he gave us that speech about what this game really is, told us it could be beaten. Now we're not so sure. Back then, people didn't protest because we were all too shocked. Now, the population of Aincrad has become bolder, and stronger. People openly joke about how they're going to kill the Gamemasters when we get out. Correction- if we get out.

Sure there's the odd death here and there but as a whole, everyone seems okay about the death game aspect of Sword Art Online. Most Guilds by now have been properly established, and some Players have opened shops.

I rub my eyes and sit up in my bed in the inn. Sleeping in SAO does the job but it is no way as rewarding as real sleep. I go through my usual morning routine- alone, now that Silica is somewhere in the Town of Beginnings. Get up, check menu, get dressed, and do whatever until its time to go back to the inn.

I check my menu to see a message from Silica. We've still remained friends, even though we're separated. In the message she tasks if I'm doing ok, and that the fan boys are becoming unbearable. What an envious problem, I think. I reply and proceed to get dressed.

For lack of better items, I still have everything the same as it was when Silica left. "We need to clear this floor," I mutter to myself.

**OOOO**

I walk into the centre of town, ready to figure out what I was going to do today. Or at least I was going to, but there appeared to be some guy who was dressed in blue, shouting about a meeting somewhere. I think he means the Colosseum. I'm about to go there when a girl with curly auburn hair and whiskers hands me a book.

"It's the updated version of the guidebook," she says. I nod my thanks and head for the Colosseum.

The Colosseum is packed with Players when I arrive. I find a spot close to the place where the blue man is waiting to speak.

"Okay! Let's get this meeting started! Thank you for coming on my behalf, I am Diavel, and I like to think of myself as a knight!" He began the meeting nicely enough, but I, and probably everyone else in the audience, can barely hold back the snickering. A knight? This is SAO, not Final Fantasy, my friend. Diavel continues on:

"Today, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower, so we need to get to the 2nd Floor and show others its possible to clear this game! That is the duty of everyone here today." Diavel spoke with such conviction, that applause rang out through the Colosseum. Several people have already committed suicide because they believed the game was unbeatable. This was just the morale booster everyone needed.

"Ok this is what we'll do. Form into parties." I sit there just looking like an idiot. Everyone else is in parties already, except a dark-haired boy and someone in a dark red cloak. I'll join them, I think. I'm held up however by a small group of boys.

I'm about to back away slowly when I recognize one of them from school. "Kiyoshi-kun?" He must have taken a sickie that day too.

"No, its Tomi in game. Who are you, Yuzuki-san?" his friends, who I don't know, are staring, almost in disbelief. Why is it so weird that we know each other outside of SAO?

"My username's Shina. Can I join a party with you?" the invitation comes almost instantly. I accept, and I see the names of his friends; Kitor, Lorn, and Asachi. My confused expression is enough to get me an introduction to each of the other party members.

Kitor is tall and broad with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes, while Lorn is short and slight with obviously dyed green hair and matching green eyes. Asachi is very overweight, but with his light brown hair, hazel eyes and jolly face, he seems like he'd make you laugh with no trouble. Tomi looks the same as he did at school. He's skinny, average-height, and he has black hair and grey eyes. Tomi is the male counterpart of me, basically.

Diavel begins speaking again shortly after everyone is officially in a party and sitting down. "Ok, so is everyone in a party? Then-"

"Wait right there!" A strange little man with spiky orange hair rudely interrupts Diavel, as he jumps down from his seat to the stage area. "My name is Kibaou, and I want to say something before we take on the boss." Everyone pauses expectantly, waiting for him to go on. "Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand people who've died!"

Diavel seems unfazed. "Kibaou, could you perhaps be referring to the Beta testers?"

"Obviously!" I hear two or three gasps from the crowd, with Kiyoshi- I mean Tomi included. He was a Beta tester?

"The Beta testers ditched us beginners and disappeared the day this game started! They took all of the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves, so only they could get stronger. They couldn't care less about the rest of us! I'm damn sure some of you were in the Beta." This accusation is met with silence. I glance at Tomi, and he seems to have gotten a bit paler than normal.

"They should get on their knees, apologize, and give up all the items and money they've hoarded! Otherwise, we can't trust these members with our lives!"

"May I speak?" it's a deep voice coming from the crowd. The man who owns this voice stands up. A tall dark-skinned man carrying a large battle-axe on his back walks down to Kibaou and Diavel. Something small is in his hands.

"My name is Agil. Kibaou let me get this straight. You're saying beginners died because the Beta testers didn't take care of them, and that they should take responsibility, apologize, and provide compensation. Is that it?"

"Y-Yeah." Kibaou's reply was a lot weaker now than his previous accusations. Finally Agil showed us the book that was in his hands. I could see it clearly from where I was sitting- it was the guidebook that everyone was given.

"This is data that was all provided by the Beta testers. Listen up, everyone has equal access to this information, but still, many Players died. I thought we would be discussing what we could learn from their deaths and how it can help us defeat the boss." Tomi sighed in relief. He's probably got quite a collection if he's so worried about people taking it.

Agil and Kibaou walked back to their respective seats, while Diavel took out his version of the guidebook. "Alright. Let's continue then. The latest edition of the book has just been released. According to it, the boss' name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. He is guarded by underlings known as Ruin Kobold Sentinels. He is armed with an axe and a buckler; he has 4 HP bars-" I hear several gasps- "and when the last HP bar enters the red zone, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon called a Talwar. His attack pattern changes as well. This ends the briefing, money will be automatically shared among Players, XP will go to the party that defeats the boss, and whoever receives an item gets to keep it. Dismissed."

I sigh in relief. That meeting was far too long for my liking. I stand up, stretching, but my party members don't join me. "Guys? I think we need to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses before tomorrow, so we can be a more effective party." I say.

They still haven't gotten up, but Tomi begins speaking, adjusting his glasses. "She's right. Let's go to that place with the Frenzy Boars."

**OOOO**

In the hours I have been fighting with them, I have discovered that Tomi is a rapier-user, Asachi uses a massive shield and a dagger, Lorn uses a curved sword, and Kitor uses a massive two-handed sword.

Apparently, because I carry a small wooden shield, I am now the tank. The shield is more for looking cool, but I won't tell them that. I'll absorb the damage anyway, and get some nice hits in.

In truth, Homura from Madoka Magica inspired my shield. I always thought it was cool how she used it to pull out heaps of weapons, so my shield is strapped to my arm, small, and circular. I would have been a gunner too, but there are no guns in SAO.

"Okay guys, last pig! Let's make it count!" Kitor had become the unappointed leader of our party, and I don't think anyone cares.

I ready Shadow Sword, and then I charge. I hit it with Sonic Leap, and it returns the favour by charging at me. I block it with my shield, causing only a fraction of what the damage would normally be. While this pig is busy with me, my party members charge. Its being hit on all sides, so it has nowhere to run except into me.

It does, and again I block it with my shield. Then it is hit for the last time, and shatters into pixels.

**A/N Constructive criticism and reviews much appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

We are all nervous as we stand outside that massive door. How many of us will die? Who will die? What will the boss' difficulty be? I want to run away screaming, but I know I can't.

I'm glad Silica isn't here with me. I know for a fact she would die straight away, and I would prefer her to live through all one hundred floors. I have figured out why I am so protective of her. She reminds me of my best friend back in real life.

"Listen up everybody! I have one thing to say- let's win this!" Diavel's motivational speech inspires no one to cheer, but the blind fog of determination settles over us instead. Someone pushes the Boss Room door open, and we walk cautiously inside. Within mere seconds, the room inside becomes awash with bright colours. Despite its pastel appearance, it's terrifying.

Illfang the Kobold Lord jumps down heavily from wherever he was hiding. He is massive, and he has a dog's head. His appearance is actually quite comical, but no one laughs because the weapon he is holding looks like it could kill someone unfortunate enough with one accurate blow.

His minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels, spawn, and we know the fight has officially begun. No turning back now. "Commence attack!" Diavel shouts at the top of his virtual lungs, his sword in the air. All our battle cries synchronize as one.

Groups A and C are fiercely attacking Illfang from the front, bravely dodging his axe. Our group, Group D, is aggressively confronting the first wave of Sentinels along with Group E.

I activate the basic Sword Skill 'Horizontal' and slash the Sentinel across the stomach. It retaliates almost instantly, and I barely have enough time to block its menacingly sharp sword with my shield.

Tomi notices my struggle and comes over to help me, his rapier glowing orange. He uses a basic rapier Sword Skill called 'Linear'. The quick thrust into the Sentinel's side is enough for one-quarter of its HP to now be empty.

From where I am standing, I can't see Asachi, Lorn or Kitor. I hope they're doing okay- these Sentinels are much quicker than we previously thought they'd be.

The three Sentinels are dressed in silver knight-like armour that makes it hard to do decent amounts of damage with our strikes. I can already feel in my pixelated bones that this is going to be a long fight.

"Group D! Change targets and engage Illfang!" I can barely hear Diavel's commands over the noise, but our group of five seems to have all heard correctly.

Illfang's second HP bar has been depleted. I can see Group F, the cloaked person and the dark-haired boy, joining us in the assault against Illfang's third HP bar. I sprint around to behind Illfang, where he can't hit me. With a slight pang, I remember how I did this to protect Silica and I, only to lose badly- I lost nearly all of my HP that day, and my only friend in this death-game couldn't handle it. I'm much stronger now, so I won't let that happen again.

While Illfang is occupied with attacking the Players in front of him, I activate Sword Skill after Sword Skill. Then the massive boss turns around- he's spotted me with his beady little eyes. His massive axe raises and clangs down on my shield with such force that I'm winded. If I hadn't of had a shield, I would be dead now. I shrug off the blow and the dark thought; ignoring the fact that my HP has crept into the red zone. If I'm going to die, I'll die fighting.

I activate Sword Skills repeatedly again, like everyone else seems to be doing. Thankfully Illfang is focusing on someone else.

"Groups D and F! Retreat!"

"Diavel, this wasn't in the plan!" someone shouts. As we run away confusedly, Diavel's group arranges itself in a circle. Once I'm a reasonably safe distance away from all Monsters, I look at the Boss. His last HP bar is in the red, and like the guidebook says, he switches his weapon by dramatically throwing his axe and shield away and pulling out his other weapon.

"That's not a Talwar! That's a Nodachi!" Tomi yells.

"What's the difference!" Tomi must have overheard me, because he adds:

"One's a katana." He has a grave expression. What's the big deal about a katana?

Diavel's group charge the Boss, who has already switched his weapon. But all the bystanders can see Illfang is charging a Sword Skill. Diavel sprints forward, clearly planning to attack Illfang.

"Its no good! Jump back as quick as you can!" a male voice yells. I don't recognize it.

With one circular swing all of Diavel's party have been stunned.

We all watch in horrified fascination as the Boss goes straight for Diavel and exclusively targets him with a 4-hit-combo Sword Skill. The blue knight lands quite a distance away. I see Tomi run over to him, obviously offering him aid.

"Tomi!" I run over to him, but quickly turn around with embarrassment despite the situation when I discover that the boy with Diavel isn't Tomi. I don't think anyone noticed.

I can see the boy offering Diavel a potion, but the knight refuses it. I can tell they're talking, but I'm not within earshot. The boy stands up shakily as Diavel disintegrates into pixels. He's clearly dead. The feeling of loss sweeps through everyone, but it is short-lived.

Illfang roars, as if reminding us he's still here. The red-cloaked person I saw at the meeting stands next to him. They pause briefly, and they begin running.

"We'll do it just like the Sentinels!" I hear the boy shout. Everyone- except the Groups fighting the newly respawned fourth wave of Sentinels of course- is watching.

Illfang's Nodachi glows with a blinding white light. He's obviously preparing another attack. The boy's sword glows blue, and as Illfang swings down, he swings up, temporarily stunning Illfang.

The cloaked person runs up, their rapier ready with a sword skill. Illfang recovers far too quickly however.

"Asuna!" the boy yells. The Boss' Nodachi comes crashing down like a hurricane on the person apparently called Asuna, but by some fluke, they dodge. The Japanese weapon only gets caught on their cloak, and the cloak's durability is exhausted.

Everyone in the room is mesmerised. Asuna's a girl, and she's probably older than me. She has long strawberry-blonde hair flowing out behind her, and from what I can see; some of it is braided halfway around her head. The green pixels are all that remains of her cloak, and they give her a kind of surreal appearance.

"That is who I am going to look up to." I say to myself as we all watch Asuna and the boy's teamwork. It looks like a dance, a beautiful dance, but it is ended too quickly by Illfang's weapon slashing across the boy's stomach. He is thrown back, and Asuna is knocked over by his weight landing on top of her. The clang of a sword landing on the ground is obvious.

They both look up like startled rabbits when the Boss raises his glowing red Nodachi for the finishing blow. Asuna feebly raises her rapier as a last line of defence. The sword comes crashing down, and then…

Agil's mighty axe knocks the Nodachi out of its path. The Boss is stunned momentarily, but its gets its bearings quickly by sliding backwards on all fours.

"Let's go!" someone cries valiantly." Half of the groups move to engage Illfang again, but our group fights the Sentinels instead. Sword Skill after Sword Skill, and two out of three Sentinels have died. I'm proud to say I killed one of the last.

The third Sentinel dies soon after its brothers, and we are free to watch the Boss once again. Illfang's Nodachi repeats the same circular movement as before, when he stunned Diavel and his party.

Agil's party is stunned. Illfang jumps up at least one hundred metres into the air- the ceiling of the Boss Room was higher than I thought. He does a series of complicated movements, and his Nodachi glows purple.

"Watch out!" yells the boy who was fighting with Asuna. His sword glows light blue, and just as Illfang leaps down, the boy swings the Boss' oversized Nodachi off course. "I've got you first!"

The boy lands in a somersault and keeps running. "Asuna! Let's finish it together!"

"Roger!" The pair runs up together, and its like they're flying. The weapons all glow various colours as Sword Skill after Sword Skill are released.

The boy lets out an animal-like scream, and the boss is dead.

Everyone is speechless. "We- we did it!" someone shouts as the giant 'Congratulations' comes up, and everyone is celebrating. I look around for my party members, and I am practically assaulted with happiness by Kitor, Tomi, Lorn, and Asachi simultaneously.

"We really did it." I breathe as Asachi squeezes the life out of me. Suddenly, we were all clapping, probably for the dark-haired boy.

"Why…why did you let Diavel die?" Kibaou's voice turns us all into silent stone statues.

"Let him die?" someone said.

"That's right! You knew the techniques the Boss used! If you gave us that information from the get-go, Diavel wouldn't have died!" murmurs pass through our group. Kibaou continues, "He must've been a Beta tester! That's how he knew all the attack patterns. He knew, but he didn't tell us?"

"There are other Beta testers here, right?"

"Show yourselves!" I don't have to look at Tomi to know he's worried. No one steps forward.

Asuna and Agil try to negotiate with Kibaou, but he isn't listening.

The boy starts laughing. "A Beta tester, you say? I'd rather you not compare me with those newbies."

"W-what?" Kibaou's voice falters, most likely because of rage. My opinion of the boy sharply drops. How dare he? Someone just died, and he's talking about how great he is?

"Most of the thousand SAO Beta testers were beginners who didn't even know how to level up. You guys are better than they are." He begins walking away. "But I'm not like them," He continues. "I made it further up than anyone else during the Beta test." Way to dig yourself into a big hole. "I only knew about the Boss' katana Skills because I fought katana-wielding monsters on floors far above here. I know a lot more than that, way more than any information broker."

"W-what? That's way worse than a Beta tester!"

"You're cheating! You're a cheater!" Chants were sounding, but our party is quiet.

"A Beta and a cheater…"

"He's a Beater!"

"Beater… I like the sound of that. That's right. I'm a Beater. From now on, don't put me with other testers." A long black coat appears on him, and I'm guessing that was the Monster Drop. He walks to the exit, but I see Asuna catching up to him and saying something I can't hear. Then he leaves the Boss room.


End file.
